Central Station

Rating:
Summary: It has everything a perfect motion picture should have!
Review: Congratulations to director Walter Salles and all that contributed to the production of Central Station (Central do Brasil), a masterpiece of Brazilian cinema and one of the best motion pictures ever produced in the cinematographic world! Central Station is a perfect motion picture: all the elements of the movie are perfectly integrated compounding a cinematographic production with inestimable quality, which reflects the professional talent of Walter Salles direction. By the way, talent is something that do not lack in Central Station: with an extremely emotive and original screenplay, extraordinary performances by the young actor Vinícius de Oliveira, and two of the best Brazilian actresses, Fernanda Montenegro and Marília Pêra, a wonderful dramatic score, and an spectacular cinematography, besides other high quality cinematographic elements, Central Station is a motion picture that portrays faithfully and with an humanitary reality the dramatic and touching journey of Dora and Josué to the heart of Brazil, and the life of millions of Brazilians!

Central Station is a motion picture that is an important chapter of the Brazilian cinematographic history for marking the top of the growth of Brazilian cinema and consolidating Brazil as a great source of cinematographic production. All the awards conquered and its international repercussion are merits that belongs to the quality of the movie and the spectacular work of all its cast and crew to turn it to a reality. Central Station is a cinematographic production that makes me feel proud to be Brazilian, a production that will always be a cinematographic masterpiece recognized not only in Brazil, but in the entire world!

Rating:
Summary: Definitely one of the best films I've seen !
Review: Even though I would have loved for this DVD to include a soundtrack or subtitles in Spanish, I believe "Central do Brasil" deserves to be bought in any language or format available. It is amazing to watch a movie with such an ability to provoke scarcely experienced emotions while it offers a beautifully depicted portrait of Brazil, its culture, people and landscape, all entwined with a touching story delivered to us through a masterful combination of actors and non-actors. Fernanda Montenegro gained a lot of recognition with her portrayal of Dora, and she deserved it. It is a pity they didn't award her the Oscar. Her young counterpart in the film, Vinicius de Oliveira, was also outstanding and very convincing. I keep this film in a preferred position among the best films I've ever seen.

Rating:
Summary: Masterpiece
Review: An emotionally spellbinding masterpiece is what we have here. Everything about this film adds up to give us a film that is beyond your average tear jerker, it is an unforgettable story about what it means to be human. It is about priorities, family and the concsiounce (sorry, I need spellcheck).
Get the plot gist from other reviewers, I'd just like to throw in my 2 cents and let all who care to read how wonderful this film is.

Rating:
Summary: A Tale of Finding One's Self
Review: A 1999 Oscar nominated film, Central Station tells one of those simple but deep, chaotic but harmonic, witty yet poignant tales taking place in Brazil. Against the backdrop of the gorgeously shot Brazilian country side, a misanthropic retired teacher (now a letter writer at central station) sets on a journey looking for the lost sparkle of life by the side of a energenic boy eager to find his father.

Superbly portrayed by renowned actress Fernanda Montenegro, Dora the letter writer finds herself entangled in a boy's life in the midst of Central do Brasil's chaos after his mother was killed in a car accident. At first uncertain how to prevent Josue's presence from disrupting her old order of living, Dora is later troubled by some haste decisions she made as her maternal instincts emerge to help her find her way. In Portuguese, Father and Country are similiar words, then not so ironically, the audience is enthralled to Dora and Josue's tireless search in the Brazilian plains stretching endlessly into a future of uncertainty for both seekers.

A movie of no answers, Central Station only kindles certain hidden vibe inside everyone of us, a hidden chord ready to echo at the first calling of human touch. Just like what the tagline says: He (Josue) was looking for the father he never knew. She(Dora)was looking for a second chance. A tale of renewal of faith as well as a resurrection for the long-dead soul, this will surely tickle some forgotten spot in your memory with Brazilian warmth, laughter, and tears.

Rating:
Summary: Pure magic
Review: This movie is true magic and so beautifully crafted that it really deserved to win the oscar for best foreign movie. Alas, there is only one place for one winner and no chance to get it "exequoe" with La vita e bella (that I really liked too : I cried in both movies). There are no sexual or big action scenes, it is all about life, true life. You do not have to think, you just have to feel, feel how love and trust grow between Josue and Dora (two antithetic persons that just crave for human relations and affection), share Josue's stubbornness and hopes and Dora's cynicism and fondness for the boy.. For me, Fernanda Montenegro has won the oscar for best actress. I watched the other nominees' performance (that were all good in their own way) but she is the only one that made me cry at the end and the only one whose character I can easily relate with (Fernanda renders it extremelly well) : she is the best. Watch this movie, it reflects reality and real concerns and problems of today (materialism cannot replace human touch, organs traffic, poverty, ...). Its message is simple: Life is hard enough, do not let people spoil it and destroy your dreams, do not give them up no matter what, and if you are desillusioned in your attempts, at least you would have tried and would have known and learnt from them. Life is all about experience.

Rating:
Summary: A real story about a country called BRAZIL
Review: Central Station was definitely the best brazilian movie I have ever seen in my life.
It seems to me that part of the jury who decided which film should win the best foreign film oscar the year it was nominated for the award, didn't really understand that the movie was related to a very significant period of the brazilian history, which was the mass migration of Northeasterns to the south-East brazilian cities during the seventies and eighties.
Despite the excellent job done by Walter Salles ( filmmaker ) as well as Fernanda Montenegro and the nine-year-old Vinicios de Oliveira, the very emotional and also sometimes very sad movie unfortunately was not clear enought to the world that it was not just a beautiful storie of a lady ( Dora ) who was returning a poor boy ( Josue ) to his father, but that it was describing part of the real life of hundreds of brazilian Northeasterns that moved to the cities of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo to escape from their extremely poor and dry homeland called SERTAO.
The modesty of Fernanda Montenegros role was definitely the highlight of the whole movie, which in my opinion was much more "down to earth" than Life is Beautiful or even Shakespeare in Love.

Rating:
Summary: Touching!!!A MUST watch!!!!!*
Review: I feel it so warm and touched throughout the whole plot.I'd like to emphasize that Central Station is really a simple but DEEP movie!!I seldom watch road movie,and since watching Central Station,I have a completely new insight about it!!
Fate lead Dora (Fernanda Montenegro) & Josue (Vinicius de Oliveira) come together.You will find everything is so natural & Logical.
As for the pictures, I especially love the one when Josue look outside the train to search his home. The scenery is beatiful yet blurred(coz the railway is moving)! I guess it implys that he's searching for his blurred identity.
Moreover,I do think that Montenegro is the highlight of the movie. Her role is sometimes cynical but interesting, & sometimes touching & lovely too!
I highly recommend this movie!!!It reminds me "Love Actually is everywhere"!!~~*

Rating:
Summary: FORGET THE COMMENTARY
Review: This film was purchased for a Brazilian studies class. The film is ruined by the commentaries throughout the entire movie. You cannot hear the lilting Brazilian Portuguese in the background.

Rating:
Summary: Very worthy contribution to the roadtrip genre
Review: I had always thought that U.S. writers would stick to the roadtrip (e.g., "On the Road") and the Latins would stick to magical realism. I've been happily surprised by the results of their poaching on the American genre. Recently I watched "Y Tu Mama Tambien" and found it excellent. Like YTMT, "Central Station" is cut in the classic mold of the roadtrip, where transformation flows from the trip itself and the characters met on it. This movie come highly recommended. Its only detraction is the ending, which could have occurred in any of the last three scenes and which was a little too melodramatic.

Rating:
Summary: How can anyone hate this movie
Review: Some reviewers have labeled this film "banal," but it is apparent they don't understand the meaning of the word. In an age where so much of entertainment is violent or crass, what is "banal" about a movie that puts you inside its characters, that permits you to feel their very human and true emotions? Is it "banal" to tell a simple story about human loneliness? No, it isn't. It is "banal" for a film to give a very positive message about the possibility of redemptive love? No.

Some of these reviewers haven't the slightest clue what they're talking about -- a point underscored by one reviewer's demonstrably incorrect claim that the boy didn't cry at the death of his mother.

While I respect honest debate about any movie, and can understand why someone would not find the film to be his cup of tea, the rather vicious attacks on this very humanistic film lead me to suspect that those waging these attacks are cynics, pitiful hipsters, or both -- the type of moviegoer who would revel in the torture scenes of Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction."